Athonian Language
The Athonian Language Introduction The Athonian language (Native name: Atonè or Atonè Qáleya) is the language of the Athonian Empire. It is spoken natively by over 200,000,000 people in the east of Zhen. Phonology & Orthography Consonant Inventory Vowel Inventory Athonian has six basic vowels: /a i u e o ə/ . Vowels can carry tone and be nasalized. Nasal vowels are written with a trema above them (e.g. ä''); if they carry tone, nasalization is marked with an ''h after the vowel instead. Tone Athonian has five tones: *Medium tone: tone 1, a/ā (usually not marked, "a"), example word: ērē (whose) *High tone: tone 2, á, example word: ká (water) *Low tone: tone 3, à, example word: vàla (stop) *Top tone: tone 4, â, example word: jílyê (life) *Bottom tone: tone 5, ǎ, example word: ǎrèmpi (truth) Another ordering of the tones is the tone hierarchy *Â *Á *Ā *À *Ǎ This order is from highest to lowest, and it is used in various morphological processes. Allophony Ilam Dialect (Ilam is the capital of Athon, representative of the central dialects) */gi gj ki kj sj/ > gʲ kʲ kʲ sʲ *DU > UU *UD > DD */sk sx sg sɣ/ > sʲx zʲg zʲɣ */p b/ > β /_V */v/ > ʋ */ɾ/ > ɽ *V > V~ / _N */a/ > ɐ / unstressed syllables */o e/ > ɛ / high or top tone */o e/ > e: / stressed syllables */o e/ >ɛ: / stressed syllables with high or top tone */i/ > ɨ / unstressed syllables */e/ > ə / low or very bottom tone Sorjin Dialect (Sorjin is the second largest city in Athon, representative of the southern dialects) */gi ge ga gj ki ke ka kj si se sa sj zi ze za zj/ > ɟe ɟa ɟ ci ce ca c ɕi ɕe ɕa ɕ ʑi ʑe ʑa ʑ *UF DS > DF DS *DF US UF US *sx sg sɣ > ɕ: ʑ: ʑ: */p t k q/ > tʰ kʰ qʰ / _V */ɾ/ > r *V > ə / unstressed, in word-final position */a/ > ɑ / stressed */i/ > ɪ / unstressed */u/ > ʊ / unstressed */o e/ > ɛ / high or top tone */o e/ > e: / stressed syllables */o e/ >ɛ: / stressed syllables with high or top tone Tone realizations *<1 2 3 4 5> /˧ ˦ ˨ ˥ ˩/ *Ilam dialect: ˦˦ ˨˩ ˦˥ ˩˩ ( 3 44 21 45 11 ) *Sorjin dialect: ˧˥ ˧˩ ˦˥˦ ˦˩˨ ( 342 35 31 454 412 ) Key *V: vowel *N: nasal *~: nasalization *D: voiced consonant *U: voiceless consonant *F: fricative *S: stop Examples *sírmêteke /siɾ˦.'me˥.te.ke/ sʲɨ:ɽ˦.mɛ:˦˥.te.ke Ilam dialect ɕɪr˧˥.mɛ:˦˥˦.te.cə Sorjin dialect *piská /pis.'ka˦/ ɸɨsʲ.'ka:˦ Ilam dialect pʰɪ'ɕ:ɑ˧˥ Sorjin dialect Morphology Nominal Morphology Nouns in Athonian have 4 basic cases: 1. Absolutive case: this case is used with subjects of intransitive verbs and objects of transitive ones. It is a default case and is not marked. 2. Ergative case: this case is used with subjects of transitive verbs. It is marked by the particle ta after the noun phrase. 3. Genitive case: this case is used to show possession. It is marked by changing the tone on the first syllable on the possessor to a higher one and lowering the tone on the next syllable. For example, the word for "problem" is sil and the word for "teacher" is anduresel; therefore, "the teacher's problem" would be ándùresel sil, changing the tone on the first two syllables of anduresel, the possessor. 4. Dative case: this case is used for indirect objects. The dative case is marked with the preposition ver. Alternatively, one can use a postposition on the indirect object to mark a more specific relation: for example, one could say ver dìye, meaning "camel" as an indirect object; or one could say dìye fěr, "to the camel", specifying the relation to the camel; "Ni dìye fěr imǎfe", I went to the camel. When a postposition is used, ver is left out. Ver can also be used as a preposition in itself, meaning "in". Athonian nouns are not marked for gender or number, only for case. Athonian has several pronouns. The pronouns have plural forms, and have different forms for the nominative case and the genitive case, as well as three reflexive pronouns: *Ni (I) *Mer (thou) *Van (he) *Plor (we) *Zif (you) *Ulán (they) *Nis (myself/ourselves) *Ger (thyself/yourselves) *Khid (himself/herself/itself/themselves) *Na (my) *Muf (thy) *Fan (his) *Ghez (our) *Bǔf (your) *Tàn (their) Verbal Morphology Athonian verbs have one basic form, the stem form. They come at the end of the sentence. To this stem we add two basic suffixes: *''-le'' to mark imperfective verbs (usually present tense) *''-fe'' to mark perfective verbs (usually past tense) Furthermore, we can specify future tense with the word ghò following the verb. Negativity on verbs is marked with the word urùl after the verb and commands are made with the word ayäj, "please", following the verb. Another useful particle for verbs is the word ŋa. Ŋa has a variety of meanings, according to the verb and its surroundings. It can mark a habitual or progressive action; it can mark a passive construction when used after an imperfective verb; and so on. Relative Clauses Relative clauses modifying a head within the main clause come after the main clause. If they modify the subject of the main clause, they start with the relative pronoun érè, placed in the position of the subject; if they modify the object, érè is in the position of the object. Érè can be modified according to case. It also has a genitive form, ērē. There's also another relative pronoun, kye, genitive form kyè, used for abstract nouns, as opposed to concrete nouns replaced by érè. Example: *''Van tyal ande der.'' *He good person COP. *He is a good man. *''Van tyal ande der, érè ni kânle.'' *He good person COP, REL I see.IMP *He who sees me is a good man. *''Van tyal ande der, ni érè kânle.'' *He good person COP, I REL see.IMP. *He, whom I can see, is a good man. *''Van tyal ande der, ni ērē qara sagèle.'' *He good person COP, I REL.GEN wealth want.IMP. *He, whose wealth I want, is a good man. Athonian doesn’t have a complementizer. It simply puts the subordinate clause in the place of the object: *''Ni ta mer tilèh ande der sírmele or Ni ta mer tilèh ande sírmele.'' *I ERG thou bad person COP think.IMP or I ERG thou bad person think.IMP *I think that you're a bad person. Syntax Athonian uses a general SOV word order. It is mostly head-final; adjectives come before the nouns they modify and postpositions appear last in their phrase. The exceptions to this rule are: 1. Adverbs and words modifying verbs/the whole clause appear after the thing they modify. 2. Relative clauses appear after the main clause. Vocabulary The vocabulary for the Athonian language can be found at the Athonian dictionary.